I cannot believe that you have left forever; you, who with your love and friendship were my most valuable support from the moment I met you, about 43 years ago, until this moment when I am losing you forever. I am grateful, because you believed in my music and my work, often alone, against all others, and you supported me in the most difficult moments of my life. So much so that at some points I felt that I should continue moving forward, if for nothing else, at least to justify your fight and give you joy.But it is not only your powerful intellect, your deep learning and your will of steel that distinguished you from other people; it was above all the unique nobility of your soul and the integrity of your character.You were an uncompromising person and a person of integrity: great virtues, rare in our dark age, virtues that enlightened me and guided me through the rough paths of my life.How glad, how blessed was I, my dear Guy, to have met you and been so close to both you and the faithful, worthy, valuable partner in your life, our beloved Ariel ...And now you are gone and you have left me alone, without your precious love, your unshakeable faith and your incomparable, unique ethos, which were probably some of the most valuable gifts life has given me.Now I see you and embrace you, even from far away, for the last time. But you must know that in your long journey, your dear friend Mikis will always be with you. My great love, my gratitude, my deep respect, my thoughts, my thanks and above all my Music, which you loved and in which you believed so much, will accompany you forever in your long journey.

It is with profound sadness that we announce the death, on 17 May 2016, of Guy Wagner, founder and webmaster of the official Mikis Theodorakis website. Guy left us after a long and courageous struggle against an unforgiving illness.

For the time being we will be unable to keep the site up to date, as in the past. But we are looking for someone willing and able to succeed Guy as manager of the site and hope the present situation will not last long.

So please keep visiting the site. We will keep you informed of developments – and thank you for your understanding.

Declaration by Mikis Theodorakis concerning the elections of 20 September 2015

It goes without saying that elections usually take place in order to bring to power the parliamentary force that will lead the people during the next four-year parliamentary mandate and implement its programme. But after the upcoming elections, what is the programme that the winning party will implement?

Yesterday, Mr Juncker reminded us that it has already been voted by the SYRIZA government and Brussels, our “national” programme, meaning the Third Memorandum; and – like a real gauleiter – he threatened us that if we did not put it into practice we would be severely punished.

I think back to the days of the German occupation and wonder how the Greeks would have reacted if the then gauleiter had decided to call an election. Meaning: Would they have agreed to take part in ridiculing democracy by forming parties with a “government programme” in their hands, or would they have taken to the hills, as had already been the case. Because, as it has been proved, Greeks in those days were still proud patriots, who confronted the heavily- armed gauleiters upright and ready to sacrifice their lives for the honour and dignity of their country.

At the meeting you asked for a few days ago, you agreed with me that the current Parliament is, in reality, the foremost instrument in the service of Memorandum politics, whose only purpose is to pass laws serving its ends, under the cover of democracy.

Because the existence of a permanent minority (KKE - SYRIZA) served as an alibi for the systemic holders of power and for foreign powers. Especially for foreign powers. In the past you all believed, you who were members of SYRIZA under Alexis Tsipras, that after gaining a parliamentary majority and forming a government, you would succeed in striking at the heart of the system and transforming a pro-Memorandum Parliament into an anti-Memorandum Parliament.

What really happened?

All SYRIZA succeeded in doing was to reinforce the pro-Memorandum front. By which I mean it became a pro-Memorandum force itself, alongside New Democracy and the new party POTAMI.

That confirms the idea that you cannot attack the system from the inside the system, since you become “system” yourself. This means that if you take part in the elections you will be attempting, naturally, to become part of the sinning house. In which case, you will have two possibilities before you: either you will be in opposition, and function as an alibi for the anti-people decisions of the foreign powers; or, if you are in government, you will live the same fate as the current pro-memorandum SYRIZA. Since the power of the system is a catalyst. With one exception: the Greek people, standing together, united. It is shameful that the popular forces who vote for you will suffer the same fate as the supporters of SYRIZA who, whether they like it or not, will be voting for the Memorandums. Meaning for the catastrophic measures of the Third Memorandum which risk proving fatal for the future of the country and our people. That is the destructive effect of the third Protocol which may prove fatal for the future of the country and our people.

As a former comrade and as your friend, I ask you, together with the supporters of the new party, to join us on the ramparts of the Popular Front which today upholds the dignity of our people. And tomorrow, emancipated, it will be the only force able to deliver our country once and for all and offer our people freedom, independence and self respect.

With my fraternal greetings,

Mikis Theodorakis

In his answer, Mr Lafazanis writes that the presence of his "Popular Union" in Parliament is not incompatible with its presence in the Popular Front. "I will not become Tsipras", he writes.

It is with a deep sadness for our country and our people that I am writing to you today about all the time that has been wasted for SPITHA – which began life as a shining sun only to turn into a little sputtering lamp. But SPITHA still exists, thanks to the unswerving faith of ten to twenty comrades-in-arms who believed in our ideas and in me personally.

Finally, as you can certainly see for yourselves, political developments and life itself have proved us right.

I urge you therefore to not let pass this new opportunity as well, and I ask every one of you to help restore SPITHA to what we have dreamt it should be from the very beginning: strong and groundbreaking, with the influence and conviction of a true soldier in the front line of progress, whose goal is to deliver our people and reconquer our national sovereignty.

For this reason we have decided, a group of loyal friends, comrades-in-arms and myself, to recall to mind the many texts we have written so far on the need to create the Panhellenic Patriotic and Democratic Popular Front, to help the people rid themselves once and for all of this plague of foreign locusts and become masters in their own home.

As you can see today, many people, especially those who have betrayed the Left, are speaking of a “Front”. Let us not allow them to continue usurping this idea as they have done up till now.

In a dramatic appeal to the Greek people (and all the peoples of the world), the music composer Mikis Theodorakis, a world known symbol of Resistance to all oppressors and of struggles for freedom, democracy and independence, top Greek constitutional expert George Kasimatis, journalist and writer Dimitris Konstantakopoulos, Dr. Dimitris Bellantis of the CC of SYRIZA and tens of other known intellectuals, activists and politicians, ask for the respect of the will of the Greek people, directly expressed during the referendum of the 5th of July and for the immediate interruption of the program of “economic assassination” of Greece and its people, applied since 2010.

The direct mandate of the Greek citizens given through a referendum is mandatory, according to the most basic principles of any democratic state, of the Greek constitution and of European Law, it is stated in the appeal. The decision of the referendum cannot be changed by decisions of the government, of the parliament or of European institutions. It can be changed only by another referendum.

The respect of the will of the Greek people is the only way to preserve democracy and civil peace in Greece and democracy in Europe, it is also said in the appeal. It is the only way to save Greece and its people, from a total and unprecedented destruction. The program applied in Greece since 2010 constitutes a huge contravention of the Greek constitution, of the European and of the international law. It has already provoked the biggest, by far, economic and social disaster in Europe after 1945. Its interruption is a question of life or death for the Greek nation and the only way to preserve the most basic moral and material prerequisites for its survival. “It is better to stop this program in agreement with the other countries of the EU, but if this is not possible, we should do it unilaterally”, states the appeal.

The signatories warn that the new agreement signed by the Greek government, under pressure and blackmail and imposed by humiliating and illegal means to Greece, will lead, among other things, to the looting of the public and private property of Greeks, including their first residence, the land of the peasants and the Greek banks and to a new wave of massive emigration of young, well educated Greeks, in a moment the country needs them desperately.

The appeal is criticizing strongly the Greek government because it is acting, after the referendum, as if the Greeks had voted Yes. It is accusing it that, instead of organizing the defense of the country, it is itself disseminating discouragement, fear and even panic to the Greek people, in order to justify its policies.

The appeal reminds that the two governing parties are governing because they promised the interruption of the program applied in Greece. It is accusing them that, during three years and until the very last moment, they did not prepare themselves, the people and the country for the need to resist, in the very probable case that negotiations would fail. It is accusing them also of blindly believing assurances they had from abroad.

The signatories call on the Greek people, in those tragic moments of their history, “not to succumb, not to lose their courage and their capacity of a right judgment”. They call them to remember that their fathers and grand fathers were able to sustain, survive, resist and win under the most terrible conditions of the German occupation of 1941-44 and of the famine of the winter of 1941-42. They express the certainty that the Greek “sense of honor” (“filotimo”) and the patriotism will finally win over fear and the force of the enemy, leading to the victory of Greece, of Democracy and of Democratic Europe.

The appeal calls also the Greek people to organize and do everything possible to help the weakest confront the famine, the illness, the dispossession, to help people safeguard their dignity. It is calling Greek citizens to help sustain the most vital state and social functions, under direct threat from the new agreement imposed by European governments and institutions and to resist, everywhere they can and by whatever means they can, to the imposition of the new anti-popular measures.

The signatories of the appeal call to the Greek people to draw “the painful but necessary conclusions from their own experience and built a serious and credible front of resistance, not trusting again self-described saviors, adventurers and opportunists”.

The signatories are calling “all the peoples of the world, to realize that the struggle of the Greek people is also their struggle”. They are calling especially “the Europeans who expressed solidarity with Greeks during the black period of military dictatorship, to stop the coup d’ etat their own governments organize in Greece”, in cooperation with IMF and ECB, under the guidance of the international Finance, in order to impose the dictatorship of the Creditors in Greece today, in all Europe tomorrow”.

“If the forces that have planned and are executing the transformation of a country of the European Union to a sort of Iraq or Libya, through “financial bombing” will win, they will destroy not only Greece but all human kind. In front of the new totalitarianism of the “Markets”, the same if not more dangerous than totalitarianisms of the ‘30s and ‘40s, we don’t have other alternative than to unite and fight. Tomorrow it risks being too late”, concludes the appeal.

Written on his 90th birthday, 29 July 2015, by Mikis Theodorakis

The text of the appeal is signed by

Mikis Theodorakis

Venios Angelopoulos, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, Athens National Polytechnic School, member of the Central Committee of SYRIZA

Dr. Yiorgos Vihas, doctor, member of the administration of the Medical Association of Athens, one of the creators of the movement of Social Medicine in Greece

Kleanthis Grivas, psychiatrist and writer

Katerina Thanopoulou, Vice-president of the Regional Administration of Attica (the major agglomeration of the Athens region), responsible for social policy, member of the Central Committee of SYRIZA

Kostas Karaiskos, editor of the newspaper “Antifonitis” in Thrace

George Kasimatis, Professor Emeritus of constitutional law, Athens University, founding member and honorary President of the International Association of Constitutional Law, legal advisor of PM Andreas Papandreou

Father Andreas Kefaloyiannis, from the historic town of Anogeia in Crete (cradle of the Cretan revolutions and of the resistance to the Nazis during the occupation)

Yannis Kimpouropoulos, journalist

Stathis Kouvelakis, Professor of Political Science, King’s College, London, member of the Central Committee of SYRIZA

Nikos Koutsou, MP from Famagusta, one of the two Cypriot deputies resisting to the end the voting of the laws legalizing the financial coup in Cyprus, in 2013

Marios Kritikos, vice president of the General Council of ADEDY (Union of Greek Public Servants)

Dimitris Konstantakopoulos, journalist and writer, coordinator of the “Delphi Initiative”, member of the editorial committee of the international review for self-management, “Utopie Critique”

Lefteris Konstantinides, leading cadre of PAK, one of the main resistance formations during the military dictatorship (1967-74), ex-deputy of PASOK

Spyros Lavdiotis, economist and writer, ex high ranking official of the Central Bank of Canada

Yannis Mavros, member of the National Council for the Claiming of debts of Germany to Greece

Yiorgos Moustakis, film director

Dimitris Bellantis, lawyer, Dr. in Constitutional Law, member of the Central Committee of SYRIZA

Maria Negreponti-Delivanis, Docteur d’Etat ès Sciences Economiques (Sorbonne), three times elected Dean of the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki

Panagiotis Pantelides, economist-researcher

Dimitris Patelis, Prof. of Philosophy, Polytechnic School of Kriti

James Petras, Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University, New York, ex-advisor of PM Andreas Papandreou, ex-Director of the Institute of Mediterranean Studies in Athens, advisor of various Latin Americans leaders and movements

Eleni Portaliou, Professor of Architecture, National Polytechnic School of Athens, member of the Central Committee of SYRIZA

Stathis (Stathis Stavropoulos), cartoonist

Themos Stoforopoulos, Ambassador

Μihalis Stylianou, journalist, director of the Greek emission of the French state Radio ORTF during the Greek military dictatorship

Yannis Schizas, writer

Fotis Terzakis, writer

Maria Fragiadaki, member of the Central Committee of SYRIZA, ex-member of the direction of GSEE (General Confederation of Workers of Greece)

Stathis Habibis, physicist

The contact mail of the signatories of this appeal is
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.

We remember, Guy and I, our wondering joy at a concert in Paris, all those years ago, when your first grandson was born. You bowed from the podium, with the light of love and joy in your eyes.

You, a man who had been through hell, suffered prison, torture, banishment and exile, had survived to accomplish this most natural human destiny: you had become a grandfather.

Now you have turned ninety and the sense of wonderment returns.

All your achievements: the countless hours of immortal music, the writings – literary, theoretical, autobiographical, political –, the citizen’s commitment and tireless activism, the individual’s trials and troubles. Where have you always found, where do you continue to find the strength to assume it all unflinchingly?

We shake our heads in admiration and can only say: Thank you, dear Mikis, for your creativity, the wealth of beauty you have added to our lives. Thank you for your devotion to duty, the example you have always been to us all and continue to be.

You must never leave us, we need you too much – and Greece needs you most of all. Your beloved country, for which you suffer still, as she relives in the present an antique tragedy. The people, standing proud in their despair, raising their fists and crying out their defiant OXI! to the power-crazed gods of money, howling their rage and wreaking their pitiless vengeance.

Greece and we, her friends, need your old lion’s roar in our ears. We need to see your white mane and blazing eyes in the forefront of the struggle, wounded, yes, but still the perfect citizen, defending the cause with your inborn courage and integrity. We love you, Mikis Theodorakis, love you and need you.

Happy Ninetieth – and many more birthdays to come. Χρόνια πολλά.

Ariel, Guy, Claude, David, Suzette... and all visitors of this homepage dedicated to you

p.s.: This site has now more than 2.500 pages, and we are glad that it has had about 475.000 vistors since 1996

Athens' Megaron Musiki is celebrating the 90 years of Mikis Theodorakis on July 29, the day of his birthday, with an event: a tribute to songs that united thousands of people from one end to the other of Greece and to all corners of the world.

Mikis Theodorakis will attend the concert in the Palace Garden to celebrate together with the audience his 90th birthday.